Chasing Daisy

interested in food at the moment anyway, so I pull back and focus on Will as he speeds around the final corner on to the pit straight. Can he do it?
    YES!
    Everyone cheers as he swipes pole back from under his teammate’s wheels, leaving us with a one/two start tomorrow. For two new drivers and a team that usually ranks fourth or fifth in the championship, this result is outstanding.
    I’m on edge as I wait for the drivers and team to return to the hospitality area. Frederick has instructed us to make sure champagne flows freely throughout the afternoon and evening and I’m just hoping that Will is going to join us for the celebrations. I soon spot him outside talking to the press along with Luis and Simon, but then I’m distracted with work and when I look back, all three of them have gone.
    ‘Off for a post-qualifying meeting, I guess,’ Holly says, reading my mind.
    I plaster a smile on my face and carry on with work, while waiting for them to return. When Luis emerges my heart lifts, but there’s no sign of his team-mate, and hours later when we finally call it quits for the night, I go to bed feeling oddly flat.

 
Chapter 3
     
    ‘That was Kylie Minogue!’ Holly excitedly points outside the garages.
    ‘Come on, let’s stalk her!’
    It’s race day and the buzz is electrifying. All our most important sponsors are in the pits and Frederick has allowed some of his crew to watch the start. The build-up is just as exciting as the actual race because there are gazillions of celebrities and camera crews traipsing around. Holly and I really want to see who else we can spot aside from Kylie, so we squeeze our way through all the people to get to the pit wall. The drivers and their cars are already lined up in their positions on the starting grid, but earlier they took part in a parade around the track on the back of a truck, and we could hear horns and whistles blowing from far away as they passed thousands of cheering spectators in the grandstands.
    I look for Will, but only catch a glimpse of his car at the very front. Luis’s bright green helmet comes into view and I realise he’s surrounded by grid girls having their picture taken with him. What an idiot. Grid girls – or brolly dollies – are the models who stand on the grid holding umbrellas to keep the drivers out of the sun. Sometimes they just hold placards with the start numbers on them. It doesn’t surprise me that Luis is lapping up all the attention he can get from them; most of the drivers do. I spot Emilio Rizzo, an Italian driver in his mid-thirties, pretending to grab one of the girl’s boobs.
    ‘That’ll be nice for his wife,’ Holly comments, seeing what I’m seeing. ‘Crazy flirt, that one.’
    Most of the drivers have got wives or girlfriends. I’ve seen a fair few since I’ve been working here. Some of them are supermodel-stunning – in fact, Benni Fischer from Germany is going out with quite a famous actress – but others are just nice, normal girls. Almost all of them attend the races to support their boys.
    I wonder if Will misses his girlfriend. . .
    ‘If she loved him that much she would be here, wouldn’t she?’
    ‘If who loved who?’ Holly asks, confused.
    ‘Will’s girlfriend.’
    Holly whacks me on the arm. ‘Stop it, you. Anyway, I think Laura is organising a charity ball in London this weekend.’
    Laura. So that’s her name. ‘Have you seen them together? You know, in person?’
    ‘Er, yeah, she came to the British Grand Prix last year. His parents were there too, actually. Very cold and aloof. His dad is high up in banking or something, and his mother is a society wife.’
    ‘Oh, right. What’s Laura like? Is she aloof, too?’
    Holly gives me a look. ‘No. She seemed really nice. Blonde. Sweet. Very pretty, too.’
    ‘Okay, okay! Enough!’
    She grins and looks away.
    It’s overcast today. It rained this morning, but the weather is supposed to hold out for the race. There’s little need for the Factor 30 I applied this morning. Yeah, yeah, I know UV rays can still get you and all that, especially down here where the ozone layer is so thin, but I’m just pleased Simon doesn’t make us wear hats.
    Today our uniform is skirts, not trousers. All the teams have uniforms created by top fashion designers, and different outfits are provided for different days. When we’re travelling we have to wear black and gold trouser suits, on Friday practice days we wear black trousers and white shirts, and